Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker – who lived off food stamps for a week until Sunday after accepting the challenge from a Twitter follower – called his experience "very challenging," and said he is considering running for governor or U.S. Senate.

It was "very challenging," the African-American Democrat, who might run against Republican Gov. Chris Christie, told CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, speaking about his pledge to live off a food budget of about $4 a day, as most of the 46 million beneficiaries in the federal nutrition assistance program do.

"I had an apple for breakfast. I burnt a sweet potato and couldn't go out and buy another one because it wasn't on my budget so I cut around the burned part and had a sweet potato around lunch time and made a casserole with broccoli, cauliflower, beans, and peas and nursed that over a couple hours," said Booker, an avid conversationalist on Twitter. "I found I could stave off hunger if I ate a spoonful and came back to it." more >>

The Indian government is starting in January a new cash transfer program to help its poorest citizens, with the hopes of reducing wide-scale corruption and making sure those who need the resources the most get them.

"Direct cash transfers, which are now becoming possible through the innovative use of technology and the spread of modern banking across the country, open the doors for eliminating waste, cutting down leakages and targeting beneficiaries better," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The ambitious project is estimated to provide 40,000 rupees ($720 U.S. dollars) a year to poor households, which could make a big difference for a lot of people and help them get the food, animals and supplies they need to lift themselves out of poverty. The Wall Street Journal noted that the resources are expected to reach around 720 million people, and anyone who lives below or just above the national poverty line can qualify. more >>

In the final months of the presidential election, both major candidates mentioned the term "middle class" countless times in any effort to mobilize the country's largest voting bloc. What they rarely, if ever, mentioned were those who live below the poverty line and what role the government and the Church should play in helping these 46.2 million Americans.

When broken down to numbers that are easier to grasp, roughly 1-in-7, or 15 percent of Americans, are poor, up slightly from the previous year's total of 43.6 million.

But what constitutes as a poor family in America? The U.S. Census Bureau defines poverty as a hypothetical family of two adults and two children living on an income of $23,021 or less in 2011. The median household income in the U.S. in 2011 was $50,054. more >>

One of the largest rescue missions in the U.S. has already served 3,100 people living on the streets of Los Angeles Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday. Its staff plans to serve hundreds more today at its shelter where an average of 800 people sleep every night. The scene is being repeated all week at the more than 300 Union Rescue Missions for the hundreds and sometimes thousands of homeless throughout the country.

However, perhaps nowhere is the homeless population more evident than when the multitudes are seen in long lines during the week at various homeless shelters who stage their biggest Thanksgiving events on days other than Thursday.

The Union Rescue Mission says that homelessness is devastating communities across the nation, but nowhere as much as in Los Angeles. "The City of Angels is now called 'The Homeless Capital of America,'" says the Christian-based organization. more >>

NEW YORK – As various groups and parishes serve the thousands of poor and hungry on Thanksgiving Day, The Bowery Mission, one of the oldest and largest faith-based charities in New York, is reminding the public that people need more than food on their way to a full and wholesome recovery.

The Bowery Mission first opened its doors in 1879, and has grown to become one of New York's largest charities, providing food, shelter, showers, clothing, medical care, and residential recovery programs to the homeless and hurting, all free of charge. This Thanksgiving Day, the nonprofit organization will be staffed by over 700 volunteers, who will serve over 5,000 meals on Thursday alone. The Christian Post paid a visit on Monday to The Bowery's main building in Lower Manhattan, where staff and volunteers were busy preparing for what they describe as the biggest week of the year.

James Winans, Chief Development Officer at The Bowery, gave CP a tour of the main building, which is five storeys high and includes a roof with a garden growing all sorts of produce – one that luckily remained mostly undamaged from Hurricane Sandy in late October, one of the most devastating storms to hit the Tri-state region in recorded history. more >>

NEW YORK – The Bowery Mission, one of the oldest and largest charity organizations in New York City, has opened a newly-renovated transitional home for formerly homeless women in Harlem this week, providing them further security as they get back on their feet.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly were present at the unveiling of The Bowery Mission Women's Center in Harlem Tuesday, as was James Winans, the Chief Development Officer at The Bowery Mission. Winans told The Christian Post that by opening this women's center, the Christian organization seeks to provide women with "one of the practical things that they need."

"We have eight newly renovated apartments for our graduates to live in," he explained, noting that The Bowery Mission has been serving the homeless for 133 years. The Women's Center is currently the only faith-based residential recovery program for homeless women in Manhattan, he said. more >>